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Tallinnâ€™s hidden gem â€“ Gloria Wine Bar

In London, we have the beloved Gordon’s Wine Bar. We adore Gordon’s, and rightly so. It’s a fabulous little spot, one of my favourites in London, despite it being a victim of its own success (and a well-timed Time Out article). But on a recent trip to Tallinn, I found myself in Gloria on MÃ¼Ã¼rivahe. And it might just have pushed Gordon’s off the top of my ‘favourite wine bar’ list. Or, my favourite bars EVER list. It really is that special and it’s my top tip for visiting Estonia.

Gloria itself is actually all manner of things. It’s a fancy restaurant, with a teeny little guesthouse of only six rooms. There’s also a cigar bar. That’s a strange thing about Tallinn (or Estonia in general? I’m not sure). You can’t smoke in bars, but they do have designated cigar bars for that purpose, which is interesting. But, we were here for the bar. Which means going through the shop in the cellar.

And it’s a fabulous shop. If you didn’t know there was a wine bar behind it, you might never find it. And there’s something exciting about that, isn’t there? But we knew it was there, so we heading right for the little archway, not really sure what to expect.

What you get is rather special. Like finding a secret that no one knows about (we were the only ones in there, save for the waitress). There is not bar as such, well not that we found. Just a little maze of beautifully decorated rooms. Old photos, everywhere, lots of wood, lots of candle light. Tiny tables, little secret corners. Perfect for romancing. Or telling ghost stories.

The wine? Fantastic. Excellent glasses too, as you can see from that photo. The spirit glasses are beautiful. There are pricey options, but you can get a decent glass of red for under a fiver. You can get food here as well, but the menu is small. That said, they do use the same kitchen as the fancy restaurant, and it’s certainly much cheaper. The only downside is that the bar is closed on a Sunday (like a lot of bars in Tallinn), meaning I only got to come here once on my weekend away.